Ike Turner: “I Did No More To Tina Than I’d Want Someone To Do To My Mother”

Lost in the black eye of his infamous history of domestic violence is this. Ike was an extremely accomplished and wickedly talented musician. A legend, even. There are his two Grammy Awards spanning an amazing 35 years a part. There’s his Rock & Rock Hall of Fame induction in 1991 alongside ex-wife, Tina Turner. And unbeknownst to many nowadays, he’s credited as one of the founding fathers of Rock and R&B. B.B. King went as far as labeling Ike “the best bandleader I’ve ever seen” in John Collis’ 2003 biography, Ike Turner: King of Rhythm.

But, again, Ike Turner was batshit crazy.

Credit Ike’s childhood where his father was reportedly ambushed by a white mob and left for dead (which may or may not have happened depending on who’s telling the story).

Credit his mother remarrying to Philip Reeves, who was a raging alcoholic and found himself arguing and fighting with Ike often.

Credit his explicit drug addiction to coke and crack cocaine for well over 15 years, a plight producing 17 months in jail between 1989 and 1991. The same addiction that allegedly saw him spending $56,000 per month on coke in the ’70s, though not all for personal usage.

Or credit Miss Boozie, the woman who introduced Ike to sex at six-years-old.

Whatever the primary inspiration, an elixir of demons spawned Ike into the alleged monster he’s immortalized as today. Search the words “Ike Turner interview” on YouTube and a long list of clips emerge. Most are worth watching off the strength Ike was a captivating figure, despite the outlandish and outright ignorant statements he casts about himself and the life he adopted as his own.

Ike Turner was batshit crazy, yo. But he’s also an enthralling listen and watch.

Tina’s ex-husband defends himself from allegations made in her book and the 1993 biopic about their marriage, What’s Love Got To Do With It, claiming many of the stories were hilariously exaggerated. More amazing than what he says is the confirmation Ike wholeheartedly believed what he was selling. And perhaps some degree of truth resides in Ike’s claims. Wanting to hear more of Ike’s side in arguably the most infamous scandal of domestic violence in Hollywood history is a common emotion by the end of the clip. He may have been a train wreck, but he was a damn great train wreck.

So one more time for the road. Ike Turner was bat…nevermind. It’s better to let Ike do the convincing anyway.

Jeez, man. I never knew he went through all of that. I’m well aware that people are responsible for most of the wrong doings in their adult lives. With that in mind, I can’t help but look at some of the people we villainize and think, “holy shit, they had some fucked up guidance.”

It doesn’t make them less responsible for what they do, but it should make more people see the issues that we have in the world through a bigger perspective. It’s not just simply “good guys and bad guys” anymore.

@Leegle that’s probably a large bit of the reason wrong doings happen, fucked up guidance & just a meh from the people around them when they do but like you say, not amy less responsible but they aren’t to fully blame.

Hold up hold up hold up. Aren’t N’s on New Balance or am I missing something? I never saw this meme when they first were going around but I reread this a few times just to make sure I wasn’t missing the joke.

Ike for us OGs… man. Worst thing to happen to Ike Turner was Tina going on Oprah when O was at the height of White Woman Whisperer powers and saying Ike beat the brakes off her. O’s church of saintly-yet-ratchet-on-the-low soccermoms ate that ish up and crowned Ike the inventor of domestic abuse.

All manner of famous white men put hands on their women and it was largely dismissed in public consciousness as “hey it was a different time.” But Ike’s black ass got crowned the base gawd of paws.

All the stories about Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Phil Spector, Sean Penn, and assorted legendary actors and rockstars we all know and love despite damn near killing women they was with took a back seat to Ike. Once Anna Mae wrapped that Oprah interview, Ike was cooked permanently. No one wanted his side of the story or his life which had largely been marginalized as the music historians began marginalizing black rock pioneers like Ike Turner Rosetta Tharpe, etc into second-tier status in the name of idolizing white rockers.

if you haven’t done so yet, go back and check out some old Ike Turner songs–it’s amazing how far ahead of the game he was: [www.amazon.com]

I once saw a worldstar vid that was a compilation of white dudes slapping the shit out of women in various tv and film. That shit was crazy !! I was like how this allowed on tv. Ike was doing it behind closed doors during the same time they let that air on tv.